JERICHO, West Bank – Ahmed Za'atreh's love affair with photography began last year, when a relative came back from a trip abroad and gave him a camera. The 15-year-old focused his lens on the brown-hued desert mountains and valleys surrounding Jericho and began taking pictures.

SONSONATE, El Salvador – In 1977, when Franciscan Father Flavian Mucci found himself away from home, he decided to host Christmas dinner for the homeless in a rural zone of El Salvador. It was a meal the young friar would never forget.

VATICAN CITY – The superiors of the four main branches of the Franciscan friars formally asked Pope Francis for permission to allow their communities to elect brothers to positions of leadership in their communities.

ASSISI, Italy – Religious leaders celebrating the 30th anniversary of St. John Paul II's Assisi interfaith peace gathering in 1986 called on people from around the world to continue its legacy to combat today's indifference and violence.

QUEBEC CITY – Canada owes him the return of the Franciscans, the founding of the country's largest Marian sanctuary, and the development of strong and lasting ties between the French Canadians and the Holy Land. Yet, 100 years after his death and though he might become Canada's next saint, Blessed Frederic Janssoone still remains largely unknown to many people in Quebec.

JERUSALEM – The Holy See has approved the election of Franciscan Father Francesco Patton as the new "custos" of the Holy Land, replacing Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who held the position for 12 years.

It is not surprising that the youth who participate in Franciscan LEAD are taking the next steps in living out their vocation. These youth already have a deep faith and the LEAD program encourages them to continue to say yes to God’s call in their lives.

ROME - "Laudato Si'," the title Pope Francis chose for his encyclical on the environment, comes from a hymn of praise by St. Francis of Assisi that emphasizes being in harmony with God, with other creatures and with other human beings, said the head of the Franciscan order.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis urged Franciscan friars to hold true to their charism of fraternity, humility and poverty and not lose the respect they have earned over the centuries for living up to those ideals.

CANTERBURY, England - Tens of thousands of people in Leicester — England’s most religiously diverse city — are getting ready to honour the memory of a long-despised English king with a ceremony that testifies to the already warm relationship between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church.

WASHINGTON - If you think somebody's famous because they've written scads of books on spirituality, traveled the world speaking about God's love, and have 150,000 people on a daily email list for meditations, then brace yourself for when that person sits down for a televised face-to-face interview with Oprah Winfrey.